Spotting Problem Tenants: It’s a Matter of Respect
How do you know if a rental applicant will make a good tenant? It comes down to one factor: respect. Disrespect isn’t simply an attitude. It’s a bad behaviour, one that leads to income loss for landlords. Tenants must respect the landlord, the lease, and the property. There are a number of subtle — and not so subtle — clues that a rental applicant is disrespectful. By asking yourself the right questions, you can learn to spot the signs: How did the applicant treat the previous landlord? A landlord is perplexed because his tenants, a younger couple with good credit, seemed like a perfect fit. Yet, within six weeks of moving in, they neglected maintenance items around the property causing nearly $1,000 in damage, allowed two unauthorized occupants to move in, and secretly increased the number of pets. In hindsight, the landlord remembers that the tenants complained about the previous landlord. A lot. Was the..